Atli Örvarsson

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Incorporating keyboards and electronics into often tense orchestral scores, Atli Örvarsson is a film and television composer associated primarily with the crime and thriller genres.

A keyboardist and percussionist, he is also known in his native Iceland as a one-time member of the platinum-selling rock band Sálin Hans Jóns Míns.

After playing with multiple bands in the '90s, Örvarsson embarked for America to study film scoring at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Subsequent composing credits include films such as …Or Forever Hold Your Peace (2001) and Dead Above Ground (2002), as well as episodes of the TV police procedural NYPD Blue and Dick Wolf's short-lived reboot of Dragnet (2003-2004). After providing additional music for such high-profile films as the romantic comedy The Holiday (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), and Iron Man (2008), Örvarsson's own score for the crime film Vantage Point received a Varèse Sarabande release in 2008. The label also released his music for the Vin Diesel vehicle Babylon A.D. and for 2009's The Fourth Kind. Two years later, his score for the Roman Empire action movie The Eagle arrived via Silva Screen. In the meantime, Örvarsson began contributing music to the TV series Law & Order: LA (2010-2011), and he joined the crew of TV's Chicago Fire in 2012. Highlights of his 2013 soundtracks include Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (La-La Land Records) and Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (Milan). In 2015, his work could be heard in the thriller The Perfect Guy as well as in the Icelandic drama Rams (Hrútar), winner of the Cannes Film Festival Prix Un Certain Regard. The coming-of-age film The Edge of Seventeen followed in 2016 with a soundtrack release on Sony Masterworks that featured songs from the film along with about six minutes of Örvarsson’s score. Also a mix of licensed songs and original score, The Hitman's Bodyguard soundtrack was issued by Milan in 2017. By that time, he was also contributing music to television’s Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi